Poland honors its greatest son – 3rd Anniversary of JPII’s death (Feature Article)By Robert Strybel, "The Polish Answer Man" Poland honors its greatest son – 3rd Anniversary of JPII’s death (Feature Article)

Third anniversary of
John Paul’s death

Poland honors its greatest son

By Robert Strybel, Our Warsaw
Correspondent

ul. Kaniowska 2401-529 Warsaw, Poland

WARSAW–Millions of people around the
globe have marked the recent third anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul
II, who had shepherded the Roman Catholic Church for nearly 27 years. During
that period he set records, established precedents, initiated new pastoral
projects, but above all touched the lives of millions of people of different
nationalities and faiths. Thanks to a seemingly inexhaustible missionary
spirit, he crisscrossed the globe on 104 foreign pastoral pilgrimages and met
with more people than any of his predecessors.

More than 17,600,000 pilgrims
participated in his more than 1,160 regular Wednesday General Audiences, not
counting special audiences and religious ceremonies. His reciprocated love for
young people led to his World Youth Days which brought together millions of
youths from all over the world on 19 different occasions. His devotion to the
family prompted the Polish Pontiff to also initiate World Meetings of Families,
which he first introduced in 1994.

A tireless apostle of love, peace and
reconciliation, the traveled to places threatened by civil strife, brought
together the world’s religious leaders at Assisi,
forgave his would-be assassin and appealed for world peace at the United
Nations. The hard-working Vicar of Christ penned 14 Encyclicals, 15 Apostolic
Exhortations, 11 Apostolic Constitutions and 45 Apostolic Letters in his native
Polish, subsequently translated into Italian and other languages. He was also
known as the swimming and skiing pope, who loved children and peppered his
sermons with light-hearted humor.

But although he was mourned and continues to be remembered around the globe,
nowhere does his memory inspire love and devotion than in his native land
and–by extension–across the Polish Diaspora. Across Poland
anniversary masses, prayer vigils, concerts and exhibitions were held to honor Poland’s
favorite native son, whose death three years ago brought to an end one of
Christendom’s longest pontificates. Not only the stations of Poland’s
public television network TVP, but also commercial channels provided blanket
coverage of the life and work of John Paul II. His pilgrimages to his native
land were recalled, portions of his sermons were rebroadcast and people who
knew him shared their inside views with the country’s viewing audience.

People prayed and lit votive lamps in towns and villages across the country,
but especially turned out in force in localities closely associated with his
life and pastoral ministry. Crowds jammed the square of his birthplace of
Wadowice, and young people gathered beneath the window of Krakow’s
Episcopal Palace at ul. Florianska 3, his lodgings during papal pilgrimages to Poland’s
old royal capital. But is there more to this collective outpouring of devotion
than a desire to honor a beloved native son combined with a kind of nostalgia
trip?

Contrary to predictions that after
embracing capitalism, Poland
would turn its back on religion the way Spain
has done, that has not occurred. Church attendance and religious vocations have
decreased only slightly, and Poland
still has one of Europe’s lowest divorce rates –
tendencies many attribute to the Polish Pontiff’s overwhelming influence. An
overwhelming majority of Poles also supports the Church’s ban on homosexual
marriage. In a recent poll conducted by WarsawUniversity sociologists, 79 percent
of the Poles surveyed insisted they were guided by John Paul’s teachings, and
63 percent said his pontificate had changed their lives.

On specific moral issues, 71 opposed
euthanasia and 68 percent were against abortion, but only 27 percent were
totally opposed to contraception. And 68 percent did not accept the late pope’s
rejection of capital punishment. But more than 80 percent believe the
anniversary of John Paul’s death (April 2nd) should be marked
annually, and as many as 47 percent want it to become a legal national holiday.